LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


Class 


REPORT 

ON    THE    IMPROVEMENT  OF  THE  CITY 
OF         DUBUQUE  IOWA 


BY 


CHARLES  MULFORD  ROBINSON 


REPORT 


ON 


The  Improvement  of  the  City  of 
Dubuque,  Iowa 


BY 


CHARLES  MULFORD  ROBINSON,  A.  M. 

(Civic  ADVISER) 


To 

JOINT  COMMITTEE  REPRESENTING  DUBUQUE  COMMER- 
CIAL CLUB,  Civic  DIVISION  OF  DUBUQUE  WOMAN'S 
CLUB,  AND  TRADES  AND  LABOR  CONGRESS. 


27 


THE   IMPROVEMENT   OF   THE   CITY 

OF 
DUBUQUE,    IOWA. 


Mr.  G.  A.  Grimm,   Chairman;  Mrs.  H.  E.    Tredway, 
Secretary;  and  Members  of  the  Joint  Committee: 

You  have  asked  me  to  make  suggestions  for  the 
improvement  of  the  City  of  Dubuque,  and  to  embody 
these  in  a  preliminary  general  report.  The  purpose,  as 
I  understand  it,  is  to  learn  the  possibilities  of  the  city 
from  the  standpoint  of  municipal  aesthetics. 

The  conditions  that  give  rise  to  the  problem  must 
be  influential  in  determining  its  solution.  Let  us  con- 
sider first  what  these  are. 


CONDITIONS. 

Dubuque  is  a  river  town,  of  moderate  size  as 
American  cities  go.  For  many  years  it  has  had  a 
steady  and  healthy  growth,  but  not  a  rapid  or  spectacular 
one.  Therefore  it  has  been  one  without  the  accom- 
panying danger  of  collapse.  The  city  is  one  of  home 
owners,  and  of  well  distributed  wealth.  There  are 
neither  the  extremes  of  poverty  nor  of  riches.  It  occu- 
pies a  wondrously  beautiful  location,  nature  not  only 
pressing  it  around  with  varied  and  picturesque  scenery, 
but  thrusting  beauty  of  bluff  or  river  or  view  into  its 
very  street  system,  so  that  throughout  the  whole  city 
one  can  hardly  ever  be  forgetful  of  the  natural  beauty 
of  the  site.  With  these  opportunities,  there  is  in  the 
Dubuque  citizenship  a  naturally  park-loving  element 
which  is  of  especially  large  proportions. 

227764 


4  The  Improvement  of  the 

Dubuque  would  thus  seem  to  be  the  city  of  cities 
for  a  comprehensive  and  beautiful  park  system.  Yet 
there  is  not  even  a  park  commission,  and  the  "park" 
possessions  of  the  city  are  confined  to  a  couple  of  little 
triangles  at  street  intersections,  and  two  little  city 
squares — good  enough  of  their  kind,  with  the  brighten- 
ing flowers  and  the  play  of  light  and  shade  on  the  tree 
dotted  lawns;  but  exercising  none  of  the  recreative 
functions  of  a  municipal  park  system,  and  with  the 
radius  of  their  aesthetic  influence  not  extending  beyond 
the  property  directly  abutting  upon  them.  They  are 
squares  such  as  any  town  on  the  prairie  might  have, 
for  no  beauty  of  bluff  or  river  has  been  set  aside  for  the 
people,  and  view  points  have  been  parted  with  for  what 
they  would  bring.  The  citizen  who  would  enjoy  the 
beauty  that  should  be  the  right  of  those  who  live  in 
Dubuque  is  compelled  to  trespass  on  private  property. 
To  these  anomalous  conditions  there  must  be  added, 
as  a  handicap  to  their  prompt  correction,  the  fact  that 
the  city  has  not  a  great  deal  of  money  to  spend  for 
other  than  the  most  commonplace  improvement  pur- 
poses— of  which  the  need  is  still  considerable — and  that 
it  is  one  in  which  a  mortgaging  of  the  future  by  a  long 
term  bond  issue  for  park  requirements  ought  to  be 
undertaken  with  conservatism. 

Obviously  a  peculiarly  interesting  and  difficult 
problem  is  presented.  Here  is  a  city  in  great  need  of 
parks;  a  city  exceptionally  endowed  by  nature  with 
opportunities  for  very  beautiful  and  varied  popular 
pleasure  grounds,  a  city  that  has  practically  nothing  to 
start  with  in  the  way  of  park  possessions  and  that  must 
measure  its  undertakings  not  by  the  opportunities 
offered,  but  by  its  capacity  to  pay  for  them — to  buy 
lands  and  then  to  develop  and  maintain  them.  It  would 
be  very  easy  to  picture  the  scenically  ideal  Dubuque; 
but  such  a  report  would  have  no  practical  value.  It 
would  be  pleasant  to  select  every  beautiful  spot  and 
gratify  its  friends  by  asking  that  it  be  made  a  park ;  but 


City  of'Dubuque,  Iowa.  5 

to  do  so  would  be  advice  to  bankrupt  the  city.  It  is 
necessary  to  choose  and  weigh  and  choose  again;  to 
consider  the  claims  of  each  possible  park  site,  not  by 
itself  but  in  its  relation  to  the  whole,  to  discard  sites 
that  other  cities  would  envy;  to  choose  A  rather  than 
B,  not  because  one  is  blind  to  the  beauty  of  B,  or  even 
prefers  A  to  B  from  the  scenic  standpoint;  but  because 
in  the  algebraic  total  of  all  the  factors  that  go  to  make 
or  spoil  a  park  site,  A  fares  better  than  B.  At  the  same 
time,  it  is  essential  in  this  choosing  not  to  look  only  to 
the  immediate  future: — the  recommendations  are  not  to 
be  confined  to  what  could  be  done  this  year  or  next. 
The  suggestions  are  to  give  a  plan  that  may  be  worked 
toward  through  many  years,  with  the  idea  that  if  at 
last  they  are  all  carried  out,  the  city  will  then  become 
worthy  of  its  singularly  beautiful  location,  the  units  of 
its  park  system  well  distributed  and  making  a  compre- 
hensive and  harmonious  whole;  while,  as  a  result  of  the 
change,  the  city  itself  should  be  not  poorer,  but  more 
prosperous,  bigger,  happier  and  busier  than  ever. 

THE   PROBLEM. 

Dubuque's  natural  environment  offers  three  great 
features:  (i)  The  river;  (2)  the  bluffs,  with  their  river 
views;  (3)  the  western  highlands  with  their  views  of 
rolling  country.  These  three  features  extend  through 
the  whole  length  of  the  city  from  north  to  south.  Over 
against  these  features,  the  park  needs  of  a  modern  muni- 
cipality may  be  grouped  under  five  general  heads:  (i) 
Small,  ornamental  spaces;  (2)  local,  or  neighborhood 
parks,  which  may  be  advantageously  scenic  parks; 
(3)  playgrounds  and  recreative  fields;  (4)  large  country 
parks  that,  inviting  people  out  of  doors,  give  to 
them  the  greatest  possible  change  from  urban  condi- 
tions; and  (5)  connecting  boulevards  or  parkways  that 
bind  the  park  units  into  a  system  and  make  possible  a 
pleasant  passing  from  one  park  to  another.  The  imme- 
diate problem  in  Dubuque  is  to  what  extent  these 


0  '  The  Improvement  of  the 

requirements  may  be  best  and  most  practically  met  from 
the  physical  conditions  offered.  After  that,  we  shall 
note  various  other  respects  in  which  the  city  may  be 
improved. 


Ornamental 
Spaces 


PARK    SUGGESTIONS. 

Taking  up  the  park  needs  of  Dubuque  in  the  order 
in  which  they  were  named  as  the  needs  of  a  typical 
modern  municipality,  we  come  first  to  the  small  orna- 
mental spaces.  In  some  respects  this  is  the  least  inter- 
esting of  all  the  groups,  but  there  are  two  factors  that 
give  to  it  dignity.  Though  primarily  of  purely  local 
effectiveness,  these  irregular  little  spaces  may  become 
by  sheer  force  of  numbers  of  general  influence,  so  that 
if  sufficiently  numerous  they  will  do  much  to  make  a 
city  beautiful,  to  give  it  an  air  of  prosperity — a  "well 
dressed"  as  distinguished  from  a  "down  in  the  heel" 
aspect;  and  then  to  affect  the  taste  of  the  people  them- 
selves, so  that  house  gardens  look  better,  have  more 
flowers,  better  kept  lawns,  and  better  grouping  because 
of  the  influence  of  the  city's  example.  The  second  con- 
sideration is  that  Dubuque,  owing  to  its  irregular  street 
system,  does  offer  an  exceptionally  large  number  of  such 
opportunities  and  that  they  are  especially  interesting. 
As  yet,  only  two  of  these  have  been  availed  of;  the  tri- 
angle between  West  and  South  Main  Street  below  First, 
and  that  at  Fifteenth  at  the  side  of  the  High  School. 
The  first  might  well  have  been  made  larger  by  exten- 
sion northward  before  the  pavement  was  laid.  Even 
now  it  should  be  carried  to  the  fountain,  and  the  foun- 
tain itself  made  worthier  the  proffered  setting. 

There  are  dozens  of  other  similar  opportunities. 
An  important  one  is  at  the  intersection  of  Eighteenth 
and  Clay  streets.  Here  the  city  has  an  engine  house, 
well  placed,  at  the  end  of  a  long  business  street.  Behind 
it  and  to  one  side  rises  the  bluff ;  on  the  east,  a  narrow, 
triangular  strip  of  ground  municipally  owned  is  now 


City  oj  Dubuque,  Iowa.  7 

given  up  to  billboards,  where,  in  connection  with  the 
little  fountain,  the  city  at  small  cost  could  make  a  very 
pretty  spot  that  would  really  be  more  conspicuous  than 
costly  Washington  or  Jackson  parks.  In  the  broad 
plaza  before  this  space,  there  is  an  old  horse-trough.  It 
is  clear  that  at  this  central  and  very  prominent  spot 
Dubuque  has  not  made  the  best  of  its  opportunities, 
and  that  a  remodeling  of  the  space  is  invited.  There  is 
room  for  a  bit  of  central  parking  in  the  plaza,  a  charm- 
ing street  feature  in  which  Dubuque  is  totally  deficient; 
and  the  little  fountain  at  the  side  of  the  engine  house — 
suggestive  of  an  Italian  shrine  even  now  in  its  construc- 
tion— might  well  be  made  an  invitingly  cool  and  shaded 
spot. 

Other  exceedingly  important  opportunities  of  simi- 
lar kind  are  proffered,  for  example,  at  the  terminus  of 
the  Eighth  street  car  line,  and  at  various  Grandview 
avenue  intersections,  as  at  Dodge  street,  South  Dodge, 
and  Delhi  road.  There  is  room  for  a  little  middle-street 
park  at  each  of  these  points.  Near  the  latter,  the  stand- 
pipe  of  the  municipal  water  works  also  offers  an  oppor- 
tunity for  civic  embellishment.  The  far  conspicuousness 
of  the  pipe,  and  the  fact  that  the  land  is  already  owned 
by  the  city,  would  justify  some  expenditure  for  aesthetic 
effect  alone.  With  your  cheap  rock,  a  stone  tower  on 
which  vines  should  grow,  might  be  constructed  around 
the  tank,  and  the  little  space  remaining  should  be 
beautified  with  planting. 

Now,  such  improvements  as  these  are  only  aesthetic 
in  effect.  They  are  not  parks  in  a  strict  sense,  and  are 
called  so  only  because  most  cities  find  it  convenient  and 
economical  to  place  their  care  in  the  hands  of  the  depart- 
ment which  is  charged  with  the  care  of  the  parks.  This 
department  is  nominally  the  park  commission,  a  separate 
bureau;  and  until  Dubuque  has  such  a  commission, 
especially  charged  with  responsibility  for  work  of  this 
kind  and  eager  to  improve  every  opportunity  that  is 
offered,  it  cannot  expect  to  have  that  civic  beauty  which 


8  The  Improvement  of  the 

it  ought  to  have,  and  which  would  give  to  it  the  aspect 
of  an  up-to-date  and  progressive  city.  Mere  beauty  of 
site  is  something  apart,  and  does  not  make  up  for  defi- 
ciency here.  For  the  gifts  that  nature  has  showered  so 
generously  on  Dubuque,  the  city  itself  deserves,  and 
from  strangers  receives  no  credit.  The  question  is  what 
does  Dubuque  do  for  itself,  and  by  the  answer  it  is 
judged  as  a  city.  If  the  larger  aspects  of  the  park  ques- 
tion were  never  gone  into  here,  it  would  still  be  worth 
while,  for  the  good  name  of  Dubuque,  for  the  city's  greater 
attractiveness,  and  for  the  constant  pleasure  of  its  own 
citizens,  as  well  as  for  the  delight  of  visitors,  that  such 
opportunities  as  there  are  be  availed  of  and  improved. 
They  involve  the  purchase  of  not  a  single  inch  of 
ground;  they  much  more  than  pay  their  little  cost  by 
the  increase  in  the  value  of  the  property  abutting  upon 
them,  and  they  are  peculiarly  needed  in  a  city  that  is 
almost  unique  in  its  lack  on  residence  streets  of  broad 
ornamental  strips  of  lawn  between  walk  and  curb. 

But  in  addition  to  this  work,  so  essential  to  muni- 
cipal completeness  that  it  is  familiar  in  cities,  there  is 
the  chance  for  Dubuque  to  do  something  spectacular, 
unusual,  and  individual  in  the  way  of  ornamental  spaces, 
and  at  very  little  cost, — something  that  will  count  in 
giving  to  the  city  its  own  special  stamp  of  beauty.  This 
would  be  to  acquire,  not  for  gardening  or  other  develop- 
ment, but  simply  that  they  may  be  preserved  in  their 
own  natural  beauty,  those  walls  of  rock  and  bluff  that 
are  too  steep  for  building  purposes,  and  that  now  and 
again,  rising  above  the  city  streets  in  rugged  picturesque- 
ness  of  wall  or  verdure,  are  so  striking  a  feature  of  the 
city  landscape.  Such  bluffs  are  those  on  South  Locust 
street  and  Southern  avenue  between  Railroad  avenue 
and  Dodge  street;  are  those  on  either  side  of  Dodge 
street  itself;  are  those  behind  the  Franklin  school;  those 
on  West  Eighth  street  ust  above  the  Wales  Hotel, 
where  the  billboards  now  partially  hide  them  ;  on 
Twelfth  street  at  the  turn  as  it  goes  up  the  hill  ;  or  at 
the  end  of  Main  street,  at  Seventeenth. 


City  of  Dubuque,  Iowa.  9 

For  the  city  to  acquire  title  to  these  bluffs  would 
cost  very  little,  while  no  money  would  need  to  be  spent 
in  their  development,  nor  would  their  withdrawal  from 
private  ownership  absorb  from  the  market  valuable 
building  sites.  In  nearly  every  case  they  cannot  be 
built  upon  at  all,  and  when  it  is  possible  to  obtain  a 
foothold,  either  on  the  side  or  in  a  very  shallow  lot  at 
the  base — for  I  do  not  refer  to  those  bluffs  well  back 
from  the  street — there  is  room  only  for  the  shacks  which 
it  is  to  the  city's  best  interests  not  to  have  so  conspicu- 
ously located.  In  Cincinnati  similar  steep  hillsides  have 
been  shorn  of  their  beauty  of  verdure,  and  have  become 
so  hideous  with  billboards  that,  as  a  result  of  a  recent 
park  plan,  the  city  is  now  taking  measures  to  buy  them 
at  an  immediate  cost  that  will  be  large  because  of  their 
remunerative  utilization;  and  then  to  replant  them  that 
there  may  be  restored  to  Cincinnati  the  beauty  that  still 
is  yours,  and  that  by  so  little  forethought  may  forever 
remain  yours — more  striking  and  preciously  beautiful 
the  larger  the  city  grows.  Do  this,  and  no  one  can  ever 
criticise  Dubuque  for  lack  of  "ornamental  spaces." 
You  will  have  something  better  than  can  be  put  into 
any  street  gore  or  vacant  space;  while  part  of  Dodge 
street,  where  the  bluffs  rise  on  botfr  sides  at  once,  would 
be  thereby  transformed,  at  this  small  cost,  into  the  like- 
ness of  a  stunning  parkway. 

Enough  will  be  done  if  the  city  simply  acquires 
the  title  to  these  walls  of  rock  and  verdure,  but  there 
are  possibilities  beyond,  if  it  will  go  so  far.  Owning 
these  hillsides,  the  wooden  stairways  that  now  climb 
them  with  so  slipshod  and  temporary  a  look,  could  be 
gradually  supplanted  by  rock-hewn  steps  and  natural 
paths,  or  by  steps  of  rock  supplemented  with  concrete, 
their  borders  made  beautiful  with  vine  and  shrub;  and 
here  and  there  across  the  face  of  the  bluff  a  safe  trail 
could  be  cut  to  a  vantage  point  with  inviting  seat.  But 
the  great  gain  would  remain  the  aesthetic. 


10  The  Improvement  of  the 

The  second  park  need  of   a  modern   municipality 

was  described  as  local  or  neighborhood   parks,  which  it 

Local  or     was  said,  might  advantageously  be  scenic  parks.     The 

Neighborhood     advantage  of  choosing  view-points  for  such  parks  is  that 

their  necessarily  small  area  seems  all  the  smaller  when 

rj     1 

8  shut  in,  and  is  the  more  difficult  advantageously  to  de- 
velop; while  if  the  reserved  area  can  be  a  view-point,  all 
the  country  in  view  from  it  contributes  to  its  effect  on 
the  frequenter,  and  as  his  gaze  is  directed  away  from  the 
park  itself,  there  is  need  of  very  little  elaborate  treat- 
ment there.  If  he  be  made  physically  comfortable,  the 
attractiveness  of  the  view  will  be  the  park's  sufficient 
merit.  For  that  reason,  it  is  often  cheaper  in  the  end 
to  pay  more,  if  necessary,  for  a  scenic  vantage  point  to 
be  used  as  a  neighborhood  park  than  to  purchase  an  in- 
expensive tract  shut  in  by  city  streets,  since  the  latter 
tract  must  then  be  improved  at  large  outlay,  and  at  large 
cost  each  year  maintained. 

Because  the  neighborhood  park  is  supplementary 
to  the  ornamental  spaces,  it  must  find  its  reason  in  its 
social  use.  It  must,  therefore,  be  suited  to  the  neighbor- 
hood in  which  it  is.  Nearly  always  its  function  is  that 
of  a  public  room  out  of  doors,  where  children  can  play, 
where  mothers  can  sit  to  sew  and  talk,  where  neighbors 
can  meet  in  the  evenings.  Necessarily  there  is  some 
overlapping  of  function  in  these  arbitrarily  divided 
groups  of  parks,  and  in  a  small  city  such  as  Dubuque 
where,  if  the  main  parks  be  well  distributed,  there  is 
always  one  at  no  great  distance  from  the  house,  the  need 
for  local  parks  is  not  imperative. 

The  public  demand  that  requires  the  establishment 
of  them  is  likely  also  to  designate  their  location  and 
character,  but  as  a  suggestion  of  what  they  may  be,  it 
may  be  noted  that  the  little  space  at  the  top  of  the  ele- 
vators, reserved  to  the  free  use  of  the  public  and  made 
beautiful,  would  offer  convenient  view-points — as  would 
the  vacant  lot  at  Wilber  avenue  and  Olive  street  ;  that 
as  to  the  older  part  of  the  city,  below  the  bluffs,  Jackson 


City  of  Dubuque,  Iowa. 


11 


and  Washington  parks  now  sufficiently  serve  the  pur- 
pose; and  that  back  on  the  hills  and  in  the  long  stretches 
of  the  city  northward,  a  demand  for  such  provision 
would  not  be  unreasonable.  There  are  an  abundance  of 
suitable  sites,  and  land  values  are  not  high.  But  the 
whole  matter  is  of  local  rather  than  of  general  signifi- 
cance, and  with  the  city's  far  more  pressing  needs,  the 
satisfaction  of  them  may  safely  wait  some  years  ;  or  for 
special  opportunity — such  as  that  which  may  be  offered 
at  the  triangle  at  the  entrance  to  Linwood  cemetery; 
and  for  popular  demand. 

*  * 

* 

Playgrounds  and  recreative  fields  are  a  special  form 
of  local  or  neighborhood  parks.  Of  all  the  kinds  of 
park  development,  the  children's  playground  is  just  now 
the  most  popular  elsewhere,  and  is  receiving  the  most 
attention.  It  is  very  elaborately  fitted  up,  with  sand- 
piles  and  a  wading-pool  for  little  children,  with  outdoor 
gymnastic  apparatus  for  older  boys  and  girls,  with  pro- 
vision for  basket  ball  and  other  games,  with  a  "field 
house  "  containing  toilet  facilities,  dressing  rooms,  a  re- 
freshment stand,  books  and  magazines  from  the  library, 
and  a  playroom  for  rainy  days.  The  function  of  the 
playground  is  well  illustrated,  indeed,  by  the  fact  there 
must  always  be  one  or  two  "  play-directors "  on  the 
ground,  and  that  the  conduct  of  the  place  is  coming  to 
be  quite  generally  transferred  from  the  park  commission 
to  the  board  of  education,  for  in  the  long  summer  months 
it  is  designed  to  supplement  the  school  work,  keeping 
the  children  off  the  streets,  and  often  affording  element- 
ary instruction  in  industrial  handicraft. 

The  playground  as  thus  developed  is  by  no  means 
confined  in  its  influence  to  the  congested  populations  of 
large  cities.  But  it  is  usually  started  in  city  or  town  by 
private  philanthropy,  and  in  Dubuque,  with  its  more 
urgent  needs,  the  municipal  provision  of  playgrounds — 
as  in  the  case  of  the  other  local  parks — might,  I  think, 
properly  be  delayed  for  the  present.  In  going  around 


Playgrounds 
And 

Recreative 
Fields 


12  The  Improvement  of  the 

the  city,  my  attention  has  been  called  to  a  level  tract  a 
couple  of  blocks  long  between  Sanford  and  Twenty- 
second,  Jackson  and  Washington  streets,  as  a  possible 
park  site.  I  do  not  recommend  that  use  of  it,  but  if  it 
were  desired  to  establish  a  playground  such  as  I  have 
described,  this  site  would  seem  to  me  well  adapted  for 
the  purpose,  both  in  itself  and  in  the  location.  But  half 
of  the  tract  would  be  amply  large. 

The  recreative  field  is  an  interesting  and  wholly 
legitimate  park  development  for  the  modern  industrial 
city.  Its  object  is  to  furnish  a  place  where  the  employes 
of  shops  and  factories  can  have  healthy  and  enjoyable 
exercise  in  the  open  air.  It  must  therefore  be  located 
near  the  work  shops,  and  it  requires  very  little  develop- 
ment— simply  a  large  even  tract,  laid  out  with  base  ball 
diamonds,  cricket  fields,  etc.  In  locating  it  a  safe  rule 
is  to  look  for  the  field  already  and  informally  used  for 
these  purposes.  I  find  such  a  field  near  the  Great 
Western  shops,  on  the  car  lines,  and  in  every  way  well 
adapted  to  its  purpose.  Large  employers  of  labor  in 
Dubuque  could  not  do  many  more  appropriate  things 
for  the  city  than  to  purchase  this  or  some  similar  tract 
— there  is  one  on  the  near  side  of  Peru  road  that  might 
do  as  well,  though  it  lacks  the  fine  trees  and  handsome 
bluff — and  present  it  to  the  municipality,  to  be  main- 
tained as  a  playfield  for  operatives. 


Summary  of 

Smaller  Park 

Needs 


Before  we  take  up  the  urgent  matter  of  large  parks, 
it  may  be  well  to  review  the  recommendations  regarding 
the  smaller  parks,  so  that  knowing  just  how  much  or 
how  little  Dubuque  ought  to  do  for  them,  we  may  take 
care  not  to  ask  too  much  of  the  city  in  respect  to  larger 
reservations.  Recapitulating  fhen,  under  the  head  of 
"  Ornamental  Spaces"  it  has  been  advised  that  the  city 
improve  certain  street  intersections — waste  ground 
already  municipally  owned,  and  that  it  acquire  title  to 
the  walls  of  rock  and  steepest  hillsides.  These  should 


City  of 'Dubuque,  Iowa.  13 

cost  very  little  to  buy  and  some  of  them  should  be 
given.  No  development  of  those  tracts  is  immediately 
advocated.  Under  the  head  of  u  Local  or  Neighborhood 
Parks,"  some  advantageous  sites  were  noted;  but  the 
present  need  was  stated  to  be  "not  imperative,"  if  there 
shall  be  well  distributed  large  parks.  And  as  to  u  Play- 
grounds and  Recreation  Fields,"  these  were  described  as 
of  such  philanthropic  excellence  that  private  means 
might  well  supply  them.  In  short,  this  report  has  as 
yet  asked  so  little  of  Dubuque  as  a  municipality  that 
such  resources  as  are  available  for  the  satisfaction  of 
park  needs  have  been  practically  uncalled  upon,  in 
spite  of  the  considerable  program  of  improvement  which 
is  outlined. 


Coming  now  to  large  parks,  we  reach  the  question 
most  urgent  and  of  most  popular  interest  in  the  present     The  Large 
study  of   the  improvement    possibilities    of    Dubuque.     p    , 

The  city's  need  of  such  parks  is  so  generally  recognized     

that  there  is  happily  no  necessity  for  arguing  the  point 
here.  Our  whole  attention  may  be  given  to  the  difficult 
and  very  important  problems  concerning  their  character 
and  location. 

In  the  science  of  modern  city  building,  the  follow- 
ing are  accepted  principles:  (i)  A  city  should  have  at 
least  one  large  park,  so  extensive  in  itself  and  in  the 
vistas  it  affords  as  to  seem  a  bit  of  country,  thus  pre- 
senting to  tired  city  dwellers  the  greatest  possible  urban 
contrast.  (2)  Two  or  more  such  parks,  so  separated  as 
to  serve  different  parts  of  the  town,  are  more  effective 
than  one  park  of  double  the  size.  (3)  If  there  can  be 
three  or  more  such  parks,  they  should  present  contrasts 
of  scenery.  (4)  Cities  that  are  not  confined  to  one  pub- 
lic pleasure  ground  of  this  character  should  distribute 
the  reservations  as  widely  as  may  be.  (5)  The  reserva- 
tions should  be  located  on  land  that  is  not  of  much 
importance,  or  at  least  not  of  equal  importance,  for  other 
purposes;  or  where  their  presence  will  so  benefit  other 


14  The  Improvement  of  the 

property  that  the  increase  in  the  taxable  value  of  the 
latter  will  wholly  or  partially  compensate  for  the  expen- 
diture for  park  purposes.  (6)  Experience  has  shown 
the  exceeding  advisability  of  securing  one  or  more  large 
public  reservations  at  what  is  now  a  long  distance  from 
town — this  tract  not  to  be  expensively  improved,  but  to 
be  held  as  a  picnic  ground  where  people  may  go  for  the 
day,  until  the  city's  growth  demands  its  more  intensive 
use. 

I  have  enunciated  these  principles  in  order  that 
they  may  be  a  guide  in  choosing  the  larger  park  sites  of 
Dubuque,  since  Dubuque  is  so  wonderfully  situated  that 
instead  of  having  one  or  two  perfectly  obvious  park 
sites,  choice  must  be  made  from  a  dozen  or  more. 

Of  these  the  one  that  seemed  most  prominently 
before  the  public  on  my  arrival  was  Ham's  island,  in 
the  river.  There  is  to  be  said  in  its  favor  that  it  is  land 
now  of  very  little  use  for  other  purposes  and  inexpen- 
sive, that  it  presents  a  large  river  frontage,  and  that 
Lake  Peosta,  which  separates  it  from  the  city,  is  already 
municipal  property.  From  various  sources,  on  the  even- 
ing of  my  arrival,  before  I  had  seen  the  island  or  any 
other  part  of  the  city,  I  was  asked  to  consider  the  possi- 
bility of  making  there  such  a  park  as  Belle  Isle  at 
Detroit — a  possibility  that  had  at  once  occurred  to  me. 
On  investigation,  however,  I  find  the  conditions  abso- 
lutely dissimilar,  (i)  While  Detroit  had  no  other  park 
site,  Dubuque  has  many;  (2)  Detroit  with  its  large  popu- 
lation was  able  to  make  enormous  expenditures  for 
development;  and  (3)  the  Detroit  river  is  of  constant 
level,  while  here  there  may  be  fifteen  feet  between  low 
water  and  high  water,  and  when  the  river  is  high  the 
entire  island  is  flooded.  Belle  Isle,  in  short,  has  no 
value  as  establishing  a  precedent  of  what  could  be  done 
at  Ham's  island.  Furthermore,  the  mere  fact  that 
there  is  an  island  lying  opposite  part  of  Dubuque  estab- 
lishes no  convincing  argument  for  placing  a  park  upon 
it.  Boston,  which  has  the  most  complete  park  system 


City  of  Dubuque,  Iowa.  15 

in  the  country,  including  very  popular  water  front  res- 
ervations, has  made  no  such  use  of  any  of  the  islands  in 
the  harbor,  attractive  as  is  the  ceaseless  panorama  of 
shipping  which  is  visible  from  them.  Nor  has  New 
York,  with  the  large  investments  it  is  now  making  in 
water  front  parks,  turned  to  Blackwell's  Island  or  to 
Staten  Island.  When  there  is  a  choice  between  a  main- 
land and  an  island  park  site,  there  is  no  presumption  in 
the  island's  favor. 

There  are  also  various  objections  to  this  particular 
island's  use.  It  is  now  exceedingly  inaccessible.  It 
would  be  necessary  to  construct  a  bridge,  and  for  this 
permission  would  have  to  be  obtained  from  private  inter- 
ests which  have  navigable  rights  in  the  lake.  The  per- 
mission may  be  withheld,  but  if  it  were  obtained,  it 
would  be  necessary  to  build  a  bridge  high,  and,  as  a  park 
approach,  to  give  to  it  some  grace — facts  that  would 
make  it  more  costly  than  the  complete  development  of 
a  better  tract  would  be.  Then,  soon  after  the  bridge  is 
built,  the  lake,  from  present  indications,  will  have  filled 
up,  unless  disfiguring  and  expensive  dredging  be  con- 
stantly carried  on.  Much  of  the  island  itself  is  a  tangle 
of  willows,  and  its  several  hundred  acres  will  have  to  be 
raised  many  feet  before  any  park  development  can  be 
given  to  it.  This  is  a  large  and  costly  work,  and  it 
would  be  many  years  before  the  people  of  Dubuque 
would  have  their  park.  Finally,  assuming  that  after 
years  of  effort  and  expense  a  park  were  created  on  the 
island,  there  would  be  gained  only  one  long,  low,  level 
stretch,  without  variety,  without  a  view,  far  removed 
from  much  of  the  residence  district,  and  enhancing  the 
taxable  value  of  no  property.  Dubuque's  good  fortune 
affords  other  and  better  opportunities  than  this. 

My  own  impression  is  that  the  value  of  the  island 
is  not  likely  to  increase  for  many  years,  but  as  it  cer- 
tainly can  now  be  bought  cheaply,  and  the  filling  would 
take  a  long  time,  there  would  be  no  objection  to  the 
purchase  of  the  land — if  there  be  faith  that  Dubuque  is 


/6  The  Improvement  of  the 

to  have  a  much  larger  future  population — and  the  grad- 
ual raising  of  the  level  on  .some  selected  portion.  But 
to  concentrate  the  city's  park  efforts  on  this  island,  or  to 
allow  expenditures  there  seriously  to  inter  jere  with  park 
development  from  which  immediate  results  can  be  ob- 
tained, would  be,  I  think,  exceedingly  unwise  and  short- 
sighted. As  a  speculation,  Ham's  Island  may  be  bought 
and  a  little  money  spent  on  it,  but  as  a  park  investment, 
I  urge  that  the  city  look  elsewhere. 

With  respect  to  other  locations,  there  is,  beginning 
at  the  north,  in  Eagle  Point  an  extraordinarily  noble 
site,  the  great  wall  of  rock  rising  sheer  from  almost  the 
river's  edge  and  affording  superb  views  up  and  down  the 
stream.  The  street  cars  now  go  to  the  foot  of  a  ravine, 
whence  an  easy  ascent  can  be  made,  if  one  does  not  care 
to  climb  the  more  abrupt  but  by  no  means  difficult 
sides.  By  good  fortune,  too,  only  a  few  feet  of  Lincoln 
avenue,  parallel  to  Rhomberg,  has  yet  been  cut  into  the 
hill.  By  continuing  this,  but  making  it  follow  the  con- 
tour, and  leading  it  gradually  up  the  hillside,  with  its 
charming  views,  and  then  back  of  the  hill  by  way  of  the 
ravine — all  of  which  could  be  done  at  less  cost  than 
cutting  a  level  street — a  park  drive  out  of  Seventh  ave- 
nue, a  short  block  from  Rhomberg,  can  lead  to  a  view- 
point on  the  summit  of  the  bluff.  From  further  along 
on  Seventh  avenue,  the  hill  can  be  reached  from  behind 
at  no  severe  grade,  so  affording  a  pleasant  loop  drive. 
The  rolling  upland  that  forms  the  back  of  the  bluff  is 
covered  with  an  oak  grove,  already  sufficiently  thinned 
for  park  purposes,  while  such  a  park  as  this  demands  no 
elaborate  development  of  planting.  Its  own  wild  beauty 
and  stunning  view,  when  roads  and  paths  have  given  it 
accessibility,  would  make  it  a  park  of  which  any  city  in 
the  world  might  well  be  proud.  Let  this  go  for  build- 
ing sites  or  an  institution,  and  the  citizens  of  Dubuque 
will  never  cease  to  regret  the  lost  opportunity ;  secure  it, 
and  the  wisdom  of  the  mayor  and  aldermen  responsible 
therefor  will  forever  be  chronicled  in  the  city's  history. 


Cify  of 'Dubuque,  lotoa.  17 

Coming  south  into  town,  the  next  great  view  point 
unbuilt  upon  and  of  more  than  neighborhood  park 
dimensions  is  Kelly's  Bluff.  This  is  in  the  heart  of  the 
city.  Rising  precipitously  on  the  east,  its  bluffs  are 
among  those  to  which  I  have  urged  that  the  city  take 
title,  that  they  may  be  always  preserved  in  their  beauty; 
on  the  south  the  green  hillside  slopes  down  to  Dodge 
Street,  not  so  steeply  that  it  could  not  be  made  beauti- 
ful as  a  park,  and  its  summit  reached  from  there  by 
paths;  and  on  the  north  and  west  the  table  land  is  on  a 
level  with  the  adjacent  street  system,  so  that  on  those 
sides  there  is  no  difficulty  in  walking  or  driving  upon 
it.  There  is  in  Dubuque  no  other  unoccupied  height 
of  such  area  so  accessible  and  with  so  splendid  a  view — 
a  view  that  there  is  no  need  to  describe  to  Dubuque 
citizens.  To  have  this  in  the  very  center  of  the  city, 
and  Eagle  Point  as  a  wilder  and  more  strictly  country 
park,  would  be  for  Dubuque  to  have  turned  to  advantage 
its  great  opportunities — to  have  restored  to  the  people 
the  wonderful  heritage  of  river  views  which  is  right- 
fully theirs,  since  they  live  in  Dubuque.  No  more  pub- 
lic spirited  act  could  be  done  than  to  make  readily 
practicable  the  acquirement  of  this  plat  by  the  city. 
When  acquired  this  tract  and  Eagle  Point  could  be  at 
once  thrown  open  and  the  public  begin  to  enjoy  them, 
as  they  could  not  for  years  the  island;  there  would  be 
an  immediate,  visible  and  immensely  popular  return  for 
the  money  invested,  and  Dubuque  would  instantly  have 
parks,  and  not  only  parks  that  would  mean  much  in 
enjoyment  to  its  citizens  but  that  would  make  the  city 
famous.  And  how  little  it  all  would  cost!  Indeed,  the 
Kelly's  Bluff  park  would  largely  pay  for  itself  in  the 
enhancement  in  value  of  nearby  property. 

Nothing  could  compensate  for  the  loss  of  these  two 
park  sites,  and  it  is  obvious  that  no  time  should  be  lost 
in  the  effort  to  gain  them.  Happily  the  city  has  the 
power  of  condemnation  in  the  purchase  of  park  areas,  and 
in  the  case  of  Eagle  Point  it  probably  is  only  a  matter 


IS  The  Improvement  of  the 

of  money.  If,  through  other  considerations,  Kelly's 
Bluff  cannot  be  obtained,  there  would  still  remain — not 
as  an  equivalent,  but  as  an  alternative  resource — the 
large  vacant  plat  on  the  east  side  of  Grandview  avenue, 
just  before  one  reaches  the  Mother  House.  The  view 
here  is  about  as  good  as  from  the  Mother  House  grounds, 
and  the  site  at  the  south  end  of  the  city  would  well 
balance  Eagle  Point;  but  its  relative  inaccessibility  as 
compared  to  Kelly's  Bluff,  its  smaller  area,  less  varied 
and  advantageous  contour,  makes  it  much  inferior  to 
the  latter  as  a  park  site.  However,  it  is  one  that  nearly 
any  other  city  in  the  country  would  give  many  thou- 
sands of  dollars  to  secure.  That  it  should  be  mentioned 
as  a  second  choice  shows  how  extraordinary  is  the 
opportunity  offered  by  Kelly's  Bluff. 

At  the  river  level  two  factors  make  park  location 
difficult.  One,  and  the  more  serious,  which  was  also 
operative  in  the  case  of  the  island,  is  the  great  fluctua- 
tion in  the  river  level.  The  other  is  the  difficulty  of 
finding  sites  not  already  seized  for  strictly  utilitarian 
purposes.  On  my  way  to  Dubuque  I  happened  to  read 
what  Mr.  Dooley  says  of  the  railroads  in  Chicago,  and  I 
found  his  point  only  too  well  illustrated  here.  He  is 
asking  Hennissey:  "Ye  know  the  Illinye  Centhral? 
Why  do  I  ask?  Iv  coorse  ye  know  it.  'Tis  wan  iv  th' 
institutions  iv  our  fair  city.  It  has  a  rockin'  chair  on 
our  front  stoop.  Its  thracks  are  our  lawn."  Then  he 
added:  "Whin  an  American  city  is  blessed  be  hiven 
with  a  site  alongside  iv  th'  shinin'  ocean,  th'  sparklin' 
lake  or  the  purlin'  river,  it  shows  its  gratichood  to  hiven 
be  givin'  the  site  to  a  glue  facthry,  a  lumber  yard,  or  a 
railroad."  This  is  exactly  what  Dubuque  has  done. 
But  there  are  still  some  possibilities  available.  Of  the 
broad  strip,  one  hundred  and  fifty  to  two  hundred  feet 
wide,  which  the  city  owns  around  the  Ice  Harbor  and 
along  the  river  edge  to  the  south  of  it,  I  shall  speak 
further  on.  For  a  large  park  at  river  level,  I  find  the 
most  interesting  immediate  possibility  at  Rafferty  slough, 


City  ofDubuque,  Iowa.  19 

and  the  sloughs  extending  south  from  there  to  the  river 
below  Mount  Carmel  road.  By  good  fortune  a  consid- 
erable part  of  Rafferty  slough  is  already  city  property. 
Fed  by  springs,  the  water  does  not  stagnate,  and  there 
is  offered  here,  within  a  couple  of  blocks  of  the  business 
section  of  the  city  and  almost  on  a  car  line,  a  site  capa- 
ble of  as  picturesque,  beautiful  and  useful  development 
as  any  one  could  ask.  On  the  west,  the  wooded  slopes 
of  Mount  Carmel  hill  and  the  great  bluff  that  frowns 
over  Southern  avenue  and  South  Locust  street  make  a 
natural  frame  of  exquisite  beauty.  To  the  east,  the  eye, 
traveling  over  the  flat  area  with  its  railroad  tracks,  looks 
to  the  Mississippi  and  the  hills  beyond.  Developed  at 
slight  expenditure  into  a  water  park,  with  skating  in 
winter  and  boating  in  summer,  and  girdled  as  it  is  par- 
tially even  now  with  drives,  this  park  can  well  supple- 
ment the  two  municipal  pleasure  grounds  on  the  bluffs. 
Nothing  could  be  easier  than  to  make  its  little  banks 
beautiful  with  planting,  and  to  create  here,  in  a  small 
fraction  of  the  time  that  the  island  would  require  and  at 
a  very  small  part  of  the  cost  of  raising  and  developing 
the  island,  such  a  water  park  as  has  been  dreamed  of 
there — but  much  more  accessible.  If  one  will  walk 
along  South  Locust  street  and  Southern  avenue,  or  along 
Railroad  avenue,  and  will  go  up  Mount  Carmel  road  to 
overlook  the  plat,  one  will  see  without  need  of  argument 
how  beautiful  and  useful  a  natural  park  this  is.  Then 
in  fancy  let  him  add  to  it  the  two  suggested  elevated 
parks  with  their  great  views,  and  ask  himself  whether 
Dubuque  would  not  thus  be  well  provided,  and  at  small 
cost,  with  a  system  of  parks,  varied,  typically  individ- 
ualistic, well  distributed  and  accessible,  fitted  to  restore 
to  the  people  the  enjoyment  of  the  natural  beauty  of 
their  city's  site. 

As  to  the  large  country  reservation,  to  be  set  aside 
as  a  strictly  rural  park  supplementary  to  these  municipal 
parks,  the  lower  Catfish,  the  bluff  on  which  is  Dubuque's 
grave,  and  the  broad  flat  space  extending  to  Horseshoe 


20 


The  Improvement  of  the 


bluffs,  seem  to  me  to  furnish  the  ideal  location.  The 
historic  interest  of  the  spot,  the  proper  incentive  which 
grave  and  tower  offer  to  a  visit  and  to  the  steep  climb  to 
the  top,  the  lovely  natural  boundaries  of  the  park,  the 
river  trip,  the  large  play  space  offered  by  the  flat  area, 
the  romantic  scenery  of  the  Catfish  with  its  invitation  to 
boating,  the  delightful  picnic  grounds  in  the  timber 
on  either  side,  all  combine  to  make  this  an  appropriate 
spot  for  a  city's  rural  park.  The  one  great  objection  is 
inaccessibility,  but  this  is  not  through  remoteness,  for  it 
is  only  two  miles  from  the  business  part  of  the  city.  If 
the  tract  were  made  a  park,  however,  the  Milwaukee 
road  would  doubtless  be  quick  enough  to  put  in  a  subur- 
ban station,  and  this  railroad  service  could  be  supple- 
mented during  the  season  by  a  line  of  public  launches. 
At  a  five,  or  even  ten,  cent  fare  these  would  offer  so 
pleasant  a  way  of  going  that  the  concession  would  doubt- 
less bring  in  some  revenue  to  the  park  commission.  As 
for  driving,  it  would  seem  that  by  an  extension  of  Mount 
Carmel'road  a  direct  approach  at  reasonable  gradient 
could  be  established. 


Connecting 

Boulevards 

And 

Parkways 


Isolated  park  units,  however  excellent  in  themselves 
and  as  a  group,  do  not  constitute  a  system  until  they  are 
united  by  drives.  In  the  ideally  planned  city,  these 
would  make  a  complete  girdle  and  would  be  an  exceed- 
ingly important  factor  in  the  city's  beautification. 

The  good  fortune  of  Dubuque,  in  its  wonderfully 
varied  and  beautiful  site,  will  stand  it  in  as  good  stead 
in  the  construction  of  these  connecting  drives  as  in  the 
establishment  of  parks.  For  while  most  cities  have  to 
trust  to  the  development  of  the  street  itself  for  the  at- 
tractiveness of  boulevard  and  parkway,  here  the  topogra- 
phy will  give  to  selected  streets  interest,  variety  and 
charm  as  a  circle  of  scenic  drives,  the  function  of  the 
development  bestowed  on  them  being  then  simply  to 
establish  their  character  as  belonging  to  the  park  system. 


City  ofDubuque,  Iowa.  21 

Beginning  at  the  Ice  Harbor,  as  a  conveniently 
central  point,  the  city  owns  on  the  south  bank  of  it  a 
broad  strip  not  yet  parted  with  for  other  purposes.  This 
should  be  planted  with  a  double  row  of  trees,  and  on  the 
water  side  a  promenade  should  be  laid  out,  with  frequent 
incandescent  lights,  and  with  seats  beneath  the  trees 
where  one  can  sit  to  watch  the  shimmering  waters  and 
the  life  of  the  little  harbor,  while  incidentally  there  will 
thus  be  established  a  pleasant  entrance  to  the  city  for  the 
passengers  by  boat.  Back  of  the  promenade,  which  may 
well  be  twenty  feet  in  width,  with  a  strip  of  greensward 
twenty  feet  broad  between  it  and  the  road,  should  be  the 
drive,  the  second  row  of  trees  on  its  southern  side.  The 
drive,  extending  to  the  river,  should  there  turn  south, — 
as  it  still  can  do  on  city  property — to  Railroad  avenue. 
Leaving  the  river  at  that  point  and  turning  westward, 
it  will  enter  in  a  few  hundred  feet  the  park  to  be  made 
at  Rafferty  slough,  and  crossing  its  pretty  lake  will  reach 
Mount  Carmel  avenue.  By  raising  the  lower  end  of 
this,  the  hard  grade  can  be  considerably  lessened,  and 
there  will  be  offered  a  beautiful  parkway,  climbing  the 
wooded  bluff,  with  long  vistas  up  and  down  the  majestic 
river,  and  views  to  the  park  below  and  into  the  wild 
growth  on  either  side.  Thus  it  will  be  a  varied  and 
parklike  drive  from  the  beginning  of  the  Ice  Harbor  to 
Herron  Place,  and  there  it  will  join  the  park  to  be  se- 
cured at  the  north  of  the  Mother  House — if  Kelly's 
bluff  be  not  obtained;  and  in  any  case  will  join  Grand- 
view  avenue,  with  its  long  peaceful  views  to  the  west- 
ward hills. 

For  accomplishing  this  result,  existing  highways 
only  need  to  be  used;  the  development  along  the  river 
and  the  Ice  Harbor  will  serve  a  double  purpose,  giving 
pleasure  to  those  who  walk  as  well  as  to  those  who 
drive;  across  Rafferty  slough  the  making  of  the  park 
will  give  all  the  development  desired,  and  the  drive  up 
Mount  Carmel  has  been  made  beautiful  by  nature.  The 
steep  slope  from  the  road  to  the  sloughs  would  of  course 
be  added  to  the  park  takings. 


22  The  Improvement  of  the 

Grandview  avenue  on  the  brow  of  the  hill,  with 
its  views  over  the  broad  tranquil  valley  and  to  the  blue 
hills  beyond,  has  the  making  of  a  very  stunning  boule- 
vard. To  this  purpose  it  would  be  economy  for  the 
city  to  give  to  it  that  elaborate  development  for  which 
its  hundred  feet  of  width  now  so  sorely  calls — and  that 
hundred  feet  should  be  made  uniform.  The  curb  line 
has  been  placed,  I  understand,  twenty  feet  from  the  lot 
line;  but  as  few  curbs  have  yet  been  laid  I  would  rather 
have  it  twenty-rive  feet  from  the  lot  line.  Then  the 
space  should  be  laid  off  as  follows:  Lot  line  to  walk, 
five  feet;  walk,  five  feet;  street  lawn,  between  walk  and 
curb,  fifteen  feet;  roadway,  fifty  feet.  In  the  broad 
strip  of  parking  between  walk  and  curb  trees  should  be 
planted  by  the  city — that  they  may  be  placed  in  orderly 
fashion,  all  of  one  kind,  equi-distant,  in  formal  row. 
They  should  be  trimmed  high,  so  as  not  to  break  the 
views;  and  the  poles  and  wires  should  be  taken  off  of 
this  one  show  street  of  Dubuque.  Side-parking,  it 
seems  to  me,  is  preferable  here  to  center-parking,  because 
the  interest  of  the  street  is  in  its  distant  views.  To 
have  the  strip  of  parking  in  the  middle  would  be  to 
invite  attention  only  to  the  avenue;  to  have  it  at  the 
side  invites  the  eye  to  look  toward  the  view.  Incident- 
ally it  will  make  the  little  ornamental  spaces,  which  I 
have  proposed  for  some  of  the  intersections,  more  inter- 
esting because  of  their  variety.  Thus  developed  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  there  would  be  a  demand  for  house 
sites  on  Grandview  avenue  which  would  so  increase  the 
assessable  value  of  abutting  property  as  to  more  than 
repay  the  city  for  the  expenditure.  In  other  words,  the 
improvement  can  be  made  for  nothing.  I  hope  the 
street  cars  may  be  kept  off  of  Grandview  avenue. 

By  proceeding  from  Grandview  avenue  to  Semi- 
nary street,  and  thence  east  on  that,  and  down  by  the 
Madison  street  hill,  the  half  circle  around  the  city  will 
have  been  completed.  Thence  by  Garfield  and  Rhom- 
berg  avenues  it  will  be  a  pleasant  drive  to  Eagle  Point 


City  of  Dubuque,  Iowa.  23 

and  the  park  to  be  established  there.  Thus  with  the 
exception  of  the  possible  park  at  Kelly's  bluff,  which 
can  be  approached  by  excellent  residential  streets,  all 
the  large  municipal  parks  will  be  united  by  driveways 
and  boulevards  into  a  system.  Of  course  in  the  case  of 
Seminary  street,  Garfield  and  Rhomberg  avenues,  no 
elaborate  development  is  possible;  but  these  in  one  way 
and  another  a're  attractive  streets  already,  and  may  well 
serve  as  links  of  the  system. 


It  is  clear  that  these  plans  contemplate  a  consider- 
able  park   expenditure  by  the  city  of  Dubuque.     But  to        oun  ing 
the  modern  city,  parks  are  as  much  an  essential  as  are     The  Cost 
sewers,  pavements,  lights,  or  police  and  fire  protection. 
They  are  not  subjects  for  argument  or  for  sentiment; 
they    are   recognized    municipal    necessities.     You    in 
Dubuque  appreciate  this,  and  have  made  up  your  minds 
that  you  must  have  parks.     The  only  question  is  how 
completely  shall  you  go  into   the   matter,  and  where 
shall  the  parks  be  situated. 

It  is  my  belief,  as  I  have  stated,  that  the  island 
would  be  in  the  end  a  costly,  laborious  and  time-taking 
park  proposition,  and  that  the  immediate  and  serious 
park  investment  of  the  city  should  be  in  the  other  men- 
tioned sites,  where  the  returns  will  be  substantial  and 
immediate.  It  is  my  further  impression  that  it  should 
be  possible  to  obtain  a  pretty  -complete  park  system,  as 
outlined  in  this  report,  at  no  greater  aggregate  cost 
than  would  be  involved  in  the  development  of  the 
island  and  its  adequate  connection  with  the  city.  As  to 
whether  this  degree  of  expense  is  justifiable,  I  would 
state  that  the  plan  is  not  an  extravagant  but  a  conser- 
vative one  for  a  growing  municipality;  though  there 
might  properly  have  been,  if  necessary,  a  degree  of 
extravagance  about  it,  since  with  cities  as  with  men, 
obligation  goes  with  opportunity.  The  city  so  pictur- 
esquely located  as  is  Dubuque  may  well  find  it  to  its 


24  The  Improvement  of  the 

advantage  to  make  the  most  of  the  talent  it  so  pre-emi- 
nently possesses.  That  a  great  deal  here  ought  to  be 
done  promptly  is,  perhaps,  unfortunate.  But  the  risk 
in  waiting  is  very  serious.  The  park  commission  should 
be  obtained  and  it  should  at  once  acquire  the  sites. 
Those  here  described  are  so  advantageous  in  their 
present  condition  that  development  could  be  deliberate 
if  once  the  land  were  safely  secured. 

For  the  purchase  of  the  land  two  courses  of  action 
are  available — a  park  tax  or  a  bond  issue.  Personally, 
I  favor  the  latter,  leaving  the  proceeds  of  the  former  for 
use  in  the  development  and  maintenance.  A  bond  issue 
for  park  lands  is  justifiable  because  the  future  will  ben- 
efit at  least  as  much  as  the  present  from  the  parks,  be- 
cause the  land  is  security  for  the  bonds,  and  because 
while  nearly  all  other  property  represented  by  city  bond 
issues — as  water  works,  sewers,  schools  and  other  public 
structures — depreciate  in  value  with  the  lapse  of  time, 
the  value  of  the  parks  steadily  increases.  I  know  of  no 
better  or  more  legitimate  fiscal  operation  for  a  city, 
quite  apart  from  the  paramount  sociological  and  aesthetic 
benefit.  Furthermore,  parks  pay  financially.  Let  me 
give  briefly  the  results  of  an  investigation  which  I  made 
a  few  weeks  ago  on  this  point  : 

In  Louisville,  where  there  is  a  fine  park  system, 
more  than  two  million  dollars  having  been  expended  on 
it,  D.  F.  Murphy,  a  former  city  assessor,  estimates  the 
city's  direct  money  profit  by  the  transaction  at  $1,600,- 
ooo.  Figuring  out,  by  careful  watchfulness  from  year 
to  year,  the  amount  of  increased  taxable  values  that 
have  resulted  from  the  parks,  he  gets  the  sum  of  $20,- 
000,000.  At  the  present  annual  assessment  of  $1.86  that 
gives  an  increased  annual  income  as  a  result  of  the  parks 
of  $372,000.  Going  back  only  ten  years,  this  would  aggre- 
gate $3,720,000,  from  which,  deducting  the  $2,070,000 
expended  since  the  system  was  started,  he  gets  the  direct 
money  profit  of  more  than  $1,600,000  in  ten  years.  Of 
course,  there  are  incidental  profits  besides.  In  larger 


City  of  Duhuque,  Iowa,  25 

cities,  as  New  York,  Chicago  and  Boston,  figures  show 
much  more  amazing  results,  for  there  the  abutting  land 
often  "doubles  and  even  quadruples  in  value  at  once" 
when  a  park  is  established.  I  quote  the  words  from  W. 
H.  Harmon,  secretary  of  the  Chicago  Park  Department. 
But  if  the  reports  of  larger  cities  be  not  convincing,  let 
me  quote  the  park  report  for  1907  of  Madison,  Wis.,  a 
neighboring  city:  The  president's  report  says:  "There 
is  now  being  turned  into  the  city  treasury  in  increased 
taxes,  by  reason  of  this  (park)  work,  on  the  basis  of  the 
tax  rate  of  last  year,  not  less  than  $28,000,  and  the 
greatest  financial  benefit  from  the  establishment  of  our 
drives,  parks,  and  playgrounds  has  not  yet  come  to  the 
city.  Yet  even  now  the  city  is  receiving  not  less  than 
$20,000  annually  in  excess  of  the  amount  expended  to 
maintain  the  parks  each  year."  But,  of  course,  parks 
are  worth  while  in  themselves,  in  the  pleasure  and 
physical  benefit  which  they  give  to  the  community, 
apart  from  their  profits. 


OTHER    IMPROVEMENT 
SUGGESTIONS. 

While  Dubuque's  need  of  an  adequate  park  system 
is  so  serious  that  any  report  on  the  improvement  of  the 
city  must  place  there  its  principal  stress,  yet  I  should 
feel  myself  remiss  in  my  duty  if  I  did  not  make  note  of 
various  other  things  that  might  be  done  to  enhance 
the  city's  attractiveness  and  make  it  a  better  place  in 
which  to  work  and  to  live.  These  as  distinguished  from 
questions  of  park  improvement  may  be  classed  as  ques- 
tions of  municipal  improvement.  They  have  mainly  to 
do  with  the  streets. 

Main  street,  considered  as  the  leading  business 
thoroughfare  of  a  growing  city,  is  too  narrow.  If  the 
population  of  Dubuque  increases  considerably,  the  thor- 
oughfare will  be  a  congested  one  ;  yet  its  widening  is  a 


26  The  Improvement  of  the 

Haussmannizing  process  not  to  be  seriously  considered. 
But  there  is  one  simple  step  which  can  be  taken,  and 
which  will  notably  increase  the  street's  carrying  capacity 
and  at  the  same  time  add  in  a  measure  to  its  dignity. 
The  unnecessary  sidewalk  obstructions — very  many  in 
number  and  in  kind — can  be  removed.  For  this  there 
is  already  sufficient  authority  in  Chapter  33  of  the  Re- 
vised City  Ordinances.  There  is  need  only  that  the 
regulations  be  enforced  ;  and  if  they  are  enforced  uni- 
versally, hardship  will  be  imposed  upon  no  one. 

Various  other  streets  have  too  wide  a  roadway, 
though  this  error  is  less  common  in  Dubuque  than  in 
most  cities  of  its  size.  The  streets  of  a  city  have  as 
varied  functions  as  the  rooms  of  a  house.  Nevertheless 
in  the  old  planning  of  cities,  all  parallel  streets  in  a  cer- 
tain tract  were  given  uniform  width,  regardless  of  the 
function  they  had  to  perform  in  the  city's  life,  regard- 
less of  the  volume  of  traffic  they  would  carry  or  of  the 
character  of  the  buildings  at  their  sides.  Yet  no  one 
would  think  of  giving  the  same  dimensions  to  all  the 
rooms  of  his  house. 

A  good  illustration  is  offered  by  the  streets  that  run 
east  and  west  to  the  bluffs.  Fourteenth  and  Eighth, 
which  must  be  always  arterial,  because  carried  up  the 
valleys,  are  given  no  greater  width  than  are  the  streets 
between  them,  although  these  stop  abruptly  at  the  hill- 
side, only  two  short  blocks  from  Main  street.  If  we 
cannot  change  the  width  of  the  short  streets,  at  least  we 
need  not  in  their  development  perpetuate  the  foolish 
blunder.  For  example,  in  paving  Eleventh  street,  it  was 
a  bit  of  unjustifiable  extravagance  to  pave  the  full  width 
of  the  road.  There  was  not  only  waste  in  paving  a  wider 
expanse  than  was  necessary,  but  there  was  actual  loss  in 
attractiveness  and  comfort.  A  roadway  twenty-six  feet 
wide  here  would  have  taken  care  of  all  the  traffic  that 
the  street  will  be  asked  to  carry.  That  would  have  left 
nineteen  feet  on  each  side,  and  of  that  nineteen  there 
should  have  been  one  foot  of  greensward  between  walk 


City  of  Dubuque,  Iowa.  27 

and  lot  line,  then  a  six-foot  walk,  and  then  twelve  feet 
of  turf  between  walk  and  curb.  This  would  have  made 
a  beautiful  street;  to  the  eye,  it  would  have  carried 
down  to  Main  street  the  ornamental  parking  at  the  side 
of  the  elevator,  and  it  would  have  given  to  the  Library 
a  much  needed  setting.  And  aside  from  these  particular 
advantages  there  would  have  been  those  common  on  all 
streets  where  side  parking  is  possible,  viz:  a  saving  of 
expense  in  construction  and  in  subsequent  maintenance, 
a  lessening  of  dust  and  noise,  a  saving  of  pedestrians 
from  the  spattering  of  mud,  an  apparent  setting  back  of 
the  building  line,  and  the  seeming  addition  of  just  that 
much  to  the  front  lawns. 

I  have  thought  it  worth  while  to  dwell  with  some 
pains  on  this  instance,  for  considering  Eleventh  street 
as  an  example,  the  discussion  is  not  academic.  The 
like  opportunity  may  arise  at  any  time  on  a  similar 
street.  In  fact,  Second  street  is  so  striking  a  case  that 
I  recommend  parking  here  immediately  without  wait- 
ing for  paving.  Like  Eleventh  street  second  terminates 
at  the  bluff,  two  short  blocks  from  Main,  but  for  some 
reason  there  was  given  to  it  an  extra  width,  so  that  it  is 
eighty-six  feet  wide,  as  compared  with  the  sixty-four  of 
the  arterial  streets.  Needless  to  say,  very  little  of  the 
expanse  of  roadway  is  used.  It  happens,  too,  that  finely 
situated  at  the  head  of  this  street  is  the  Cathedral, 
which  stands  for  so  much  to  many  of  Dubuque's 
citizens  that  it  would  be  an  appropriate  act,  as  well  as 
one  making  for  the  enhancement  of  the  city's  attract- 
iveness, to  give  to  it  that  significance  and  dignity  of 
setting  which  would  be  given — with  an  actual  economy 
— by  transforming  Second  street  from  Main  to  its  portal 
into  a  parklike  approach.  My  advice  would  be  a  forty 
foot  road,  thus  leaving  twenty-three  feet  on  each  side 
for  walk  and  parking.  The  twenty-three  feet  I  would 
divide  as  follows:  From  lot  line  to  walk,  one  foot; 
walk,  ten  feet;  parking — turf  from  walk  to  curb — 
twelve  feet.  I  have  recommended  here  an  especially 


28  The  Improvement  of  the 

wide  roadway  and  wide  walk  so  as  to  take  care  of  the 
dispersing  congregations. 

On  Rhomberg  avenue,  to  which  in  my  plan  I  give 
special  significance  as  a  park  connection,  there  is  for 
some  distance  a  fine  double  row  of  elms.  These  have 
now  grown  to  such  size  and  are  so  well  worth  saving  in 
their  beauty  that  they  ought  to  be  thinned  out  so  that 
the  trees  which  are  left  may  be  given  opportunity  to 
develop.  Many  persons  have  great  reluctance  to  author- 
ize removal  of  a  tree;  but  a  congestion  of  trees,  so  that 
they  are  starved  and  cramped,  is  only  a  little  less  bad 
than  a  huddling  of  human  beings  into  tenements. 

The  work  here,  and  the  tree  planting  which  I  have 
already  suggested  for  Grandview  avenue,  ought  to  be 
done  by  a  properly  constituted  official  authority,  which 
will  not  only  act  with  expert  knowledge  but  with  that 
regard  for  the  interests  of  the  whole  street — which  are 
also  the  interests  of  the  city — as  distinguished  from  the 
individual  lot  owner's  point  of  view.  And  Grandview 
and  Rhomberg  avenues  are  only  two  streets  out  of  the 
whole  city,  on  all  the  streets  of  which  tree  care  and  tree 
planting  should  be  systematic  and  scientific  if  Dubuque 
is  to  realize  all  its  possibilities  for  beauty.  To  gain 
this  result  there  may  be  created  the  office  of  city 
forester,  in  which  a  competent  man  can  by  degrees  ac- 
complish much  with  a  comparatively  small  annual  appro- 
priation; or  the  street  trees  can  be  put  in  charge  of  the 
park  commission,  when  that  body  has  been  secured. 
In  the  latter  case  the  park  board  would  employ  the  for- 
ester and  should  be  given  a  separate  appropriation 
expressly  for  street  tree  work. 

Further  considering  the  streets  as  a  whole,  there 
should  be  a  better  rounding  of  curbs  at  the  corners. 
The  radius  of  the  present  curve  is  so  short  that  the  arc 
has  neither  beauty  nor  utility.  A  long  sweeping  curve 
at  the  corners  will  add  much  to  the  comeliness  of  the 
street,  and  will  greatly  facilitate  driving. 


City  of  Dubuque,  Iowa.  29 

On  all  the  business  streets,  and  as  rapidly  as  prac- 
ticable on  the  residence  streets,  light  standards  should 
be  substituted  for  the  present  flimsy  method  of  hanging 
electric  lights  from  wires.  Various  artistic  standards 
are  on  the  market  at  little  or  no  higher  price  than  those 
designed  without  thought  of  appearance.  A  very  little 
care  in  the  selection  of  the  standards  will  give  satisfac- 
tory results. 

Street  name  signs  are  also  very  much  needed 
throughout  Dubuque. 

Cans  for  the  reception  of  street  waste  and  rubbish 
are  good  things,  but  cans  plastered  with  signs  are  about 
as  much  of  an  eye-sore  on  the  public  way  as  would  be 
the  rubbish  itself.  I  do  not  know  what  arrangement 
tempted  the  granting  of  permission  to  cover  these  street 
cans  with  signs.  If  no  permission  was  given  they  should 
at  once  be  freed  from  the  advertisements;  if  financial 
considerations  persuaded  a  granting  of  permission  let 
there  be  a  reflection  that — if  the  signs  pay  for  the  cans 
— they  also  negative  practically  the  whole  good  of  the 
cans.  I  do  not  believe  that  Dubuque  is  so  poor  or  so 
mean  that  it  cannot  keep  the  rubbish  from  the  outside 
of  its  rubbish  receptacles.  A  municipality  that  has 
awakened  to  high  ideals  of  civic  beauty,  and  looks  for 
a  beautiful  park  system,  needs  only  to  have  its  attention 
called  to  the  present  condition  of  the  street  cans. 

The  alleys  of  Dubuque  are  so  broad  and  so  conspic- 
uous that  they  may  properly  be  considered  under  the 
head  of  streets.  Their  dirtiness  is  appalling.  For  its 
alleys,  Dubuque  needs  one  of  those  general  cleaning-up 
days  that  have  been  so  popular  throughout  the  west  for 
the  last  year,  and  after  that  a  system  of  much  more 
frequent  regular  collection. 

With  regard  to  the  landscape  development  of  the 
city's  present  little  squares  and  triangles,  I  shall  say 
nothing.  Speaking  generally,  the  effects  are  pretty 
good,  and  the  problem  is  one  that  will  naturally  be  taken 


30  The  Improvement  of  the 

up  by  the  park  commission.  But  I  may  suggest  that 
the  pipes  for  drinking  water  are  susceptible  of  worthier 
treatment  than  at  present. 

The  school  yards  also,  which  are  exceptional  in 
their  size  and  the  opportunity  they  offer  for  good  work, 
require  no  word  of  mine,  as  I  understand  that  a  very 
competent  authority  has  already  made  plans  for  them. 

The  one  big  thing  for  Dubuque  to  work  for,  after 
the  park  and  street  improvements — and  in  its  importance 
it  is  comparable  to  them — is  the  abolition  of  grade  cross- 
ings by  the  railroads,  and  then,  as  an  incident  of  the 
reconstruction  necessary,  the  erection  of  a  union  rail- 
road station.  The  abolition  of  the  grade  crossings  will 
be  a  large  and  costly  work,  but  it  is  one  of  exceeding 
moment  to  Dubuque,  and  one  in  the  expense  of  which 
the  railroads  will  share.  This  they  can  be  compelled  to 
do,  if  compulsion  is  necessary;  but  the  change  would  be 
so  much  to  their  own  interest,  in  the  facilitation  of 
traffic,  in  lessening  the  cost  of  maintenance — doing 
away  with  gates  and  flagmen — in  relief  from  damage 
actions  for  death  and  injury,  and  in  economy  and  con- 
venience of  administration,  through  having  one  station 
instead  of  four  separate  ones,  that  the  roads  will  probably 
be  found  willing  to  co-operate  with  the  municipality  if 
properly  approached.  There  should  be  appointed  to 
take  up  this  matter  a  joint  committee  representative  of 
the  city  and  of  the  different  roads.  The  opportunity  for 
an  economical  elevation  of  tracks  is  exceptionally  favor- 
able in  Dubuque,  and  convenient  sites  for  the  union 
station  are  at  hand,  while  there  are  so  many  big  roads 
to  share  the  cost  of  the  improvement  that  a  requirement 
of  grade  crossing  abolition  would  work  hardship  upon 
none  of  them.  As  for  the  city,  it  would  gain  immensely 
by  this  improvement.  The  one  adequate  union  station, 
instead  of  the  four  little  village-like  stations,  would  at 
once  transform  the  impression  it  must  make  upon  trav- 
elers, from  that  of  a  little  town  to  that  of  a  city.  The 
elevation  of  the  tracks  would  not  only  mean  a  saving  of 


City  of  Dubuque,  Io~a>a.  31 

life  and  limb,  and  of  considerable  time  for  city  traffic, 
but  in  so  doing  it  would  render  the  Ice  Harbor  landings . 
much  safer  and  pleasanter  of  approach,  and  would  vastly 
increase  the  accessibility  and  usefulness  of  the  suggested 
harbor  and  river-front  drive  and  promenade. 


CONCLUSION. 

With  these  three  distinct  groups  of  effort:  (i) 
For  the  creation  of  a  park  system;  (2)  For  the  im- 
provement of  the  streets  in  various  ways;  and  (3)  For 
the  abolition  of  grade  crossings  and  the  establishment 
of  a  union  station,  Dubuque  will  be  transformed  into  a 
modern  city — beautiful,  with  a  beauty  characteristic  of 
its  picturesque  location,  more  orderly  of  aspect,  and 
more  convenient, — in  short,  better  to  visit,  and  better  to 
live  in  and  to  call  one's  home.  As  such  a  city  it  will 
attract  people  to  itself,  for  with  the  present  ease  of  com- 
munication, population  has  a  fluid  character,  flowing  to 
the  points  where  it  finds  most  to  please  it.  People  make 
business,  and  I  believe  the  future  of  Dubuque,  in  the 
present  keen  rivalry  of  cities,  depends  more  upon  the 
city's  immediate  grasp  of  its  opportunities  for  municipal 
improvement,  not  in  a  picayune  way,  but  in  a  broadly 
comprehensive  and  daring  way,  than  upon  any  other 
factor.  The  very  circumstance  that  this  report  has  been 
called  for  shows  that  the  right  spirit  is  stirring  in  the 
municipality,  and  gives  the  promise  that  the  situation 
is  recognized  and  will  be  worthily  met,  as  clearly  it  can 
be  at  no  staggering  expense. 

The  change  which  I  dare  to  forsee  in  the  attitude 
of  Dubuque  must  be  in  the  hearts  of  individual  citizens 
before  it  manifests  itself  in  the  community.  The  con- 
struction of  large  private  places — by  which  I  mean  not 
the  erection  of  fine  houses  but  the  putting  of  houses  in 
large  grounds,  the  development  of  these  grounds,  and 
the  treasuring  of  view  points,  will  be  one  expression  of 
it.  This  will  line  Grandview  avenue,  for  example,  with 


32  The  Improvement  of  the  City 

of  Dubuque,  Iowa. 

handsome  private  grounds,  thus  doing  much  by  private 
means  for  the  embellishment  of  the  city.  The  end  will 
be  hastened  by  the  worthier  municipal  development  of 
the  street.  And  the  new  individual  spirit  will  show 
itself  in  gifts  to  the  city.  There  is  no  finer  thing  for  a 
rich  man  to  do  than  by  gift  to  make  recognition  of  the 
community  where  he  has  gained  his  wealth.  It  is  a 
proud  fact  in  the  history  of  American  municipalities 
that  much  of  their  parks  and  connecting  driveways,  and 
much  of  their  aesthetic  embellishment,  are  the  gifts  of 
citizens.  Finally,  and  most  important  of  all,  the  new 
sentiment  will  show  itself  in  the  public  spirit  of  indi- 
viduals, in  that  self-sacrifice  that  freely  gives  of  time 
and  effort  for  the  common  good.  That  expression  I 
have  found  already  evident,  in  an  inspiringly  large 
measure,  in  the  members  of  the  Joint  Committee,  which 
I  have  the  honor  to  serve.  In  the  thing  itself,  but 
especially  in  its  promise  for  Dubuque,  all  who  love  the 
city  must  rejoice. 

Respectfully  submitted, 

CHARGES  MULFORD  ROBINSON. 
October  ist,  1907. 


LIBRARY  USE 

>  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 


^T-. 
(J6534S1019412A— A-32 


General  Library 

Umversity  of  California 

rJerkeley 


